Broke My SIII Need Advice About Insurance

[smw_]

I've never damaged a phone, or had insurance before. Not to long ago I made the switch to U.S. Cellular. I bought an S3 and let them talk me into insurance. Lately I've been meaning to cancel the insurance since the price went up $4 and my phone still' looked new after months. Well I was taking it out of my pocket and it slipped out of my hand and fell onto the concrete breaking the screen. The phone isn't wrecked. It is useable, but it got me thinking about my insurance and how little i know about it. So I decided to do some homework.

I went to the Assurant site like to check my deductible like the US Cellular site said to. To my dismay the deductible costs way more than the phone did. So I did some more research. I found out how contracts may cause us to get phones cheaper but the carriers pay full price.

I understand how and why it works. But the thing is I am paying $10 a month for insurance. I'm spending all of this money on insurance when in the end it doesn't do anything for me. I can buy a new phone for less than my deductible.

My plan of action right now is to cancel the insurance and just live with my phone as it for a while. The screen has a dozen cracks but I think I can live with it.

What advice can you offer me in general? Should I cancel my insurance? It seems like a big waste.

Can anyone tell me their experience when dealing with the phone insurance, us cellular, and assurant?

 

[SiempreTuna]

Economists generally agree that phone insurance is a waste of money. And that's without a massive deductible. I'd cancel it - and I speak as someone who once had a phone replaced by insurance (though the deductible was around $75 .. which was probably not too far off the value of an 18 month old N80 at the time).

I'm not sure if this is true in the US, but in the UK your home insurance policy will often cover your phone already. Of course, you could have the same issue with deductibles, but at least you're not paying an extra $10/month for zero benefit

 

[smw_]

Yeah, pretty sure I'm going to cancel it.

 

[kate]

I agree with what Siempre posted - phone insurance isn't worth the cost for most people.

 

[hayter23]

I thought the insurance was a waste of money too...but, since you can't upgrade for over a year...I just learned it's worth it. I just upgraded my daughter's phone recently. Not even 2 months later, the screen is shattered. Without insurance, I'd have to pay the full retail price on a new phone (no less than $500 and retail price for her phone is $799 right now). So...as of right now, I'm very glad I kept the insurance and only have to pay $100 for a replacement phone, which is the same model as the one that broke. So, my opinion is...it's a waste of money...until you need it! If you're close to being able to upgrade, then I'd say go ahead and cancel it. Btw, I have actually had to process two insurance claims (two different phones) this week with Assurant. I've already gotten the first replacement phone and they expedited it for free